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GameMastery Guide / Rewards / What is a Reward

Making Basic Treasure Interesting

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 110
Each time you place a major treasure hoard in your game that includes coins or goods, look for a way to make the experience of discovering, transporting, or trading it somehow interesting or memorable. One general point to bear in mind when fleshing out any aspect of your world is that engaging details compete with one another. Players tend to recall one or two salient moments from any given session. They form strong memories of items and incidents that carry an emotional charge or promise to affect future events. If you lovingly add texture and history to every single item of treasure, all of this detail will blend together. This technique is more powerful when used sparingly.

Be prepared to be flexible when introducing special treasure details. You may find yourself about to bring in a vividly detailed treasure when the players are preoccupied with other concerns, like chasing down an escaped enemy, saving a dying comrade, or charging onward to the next plot development. If something else has already captured their interest, turn the treasure into a nondescript pile of coins and save the vivid details for an otherwise uneventful moment.

The most memorable treasure details are those that relate in some way to other events in the campaign, including the characters’ backstories. This might be as simple a matter as specifying that a cache of coins was minted in Celwynvian, when one of the PCs is exploring her elven heritage. When customizing basic treasure, ask yourself the following questions.

Does the item reinforce a PC’s characterization?

If a player has described his character as obsessed with books, make sure that your campaign’s treasure troves turn up more than their share of rare and antique tomes.

Can the item reflect the adventure’s theme?

In an adventure where the heroes are questioning their identities, they could discover a precious mirror. During a quest for political power, they might find a crown or scepter.

Would the item foster an interesting debate or conflict within the party?

If one PC hates demons and wishes to destroy anything associated with them, and the other is interested in studying dark arts in order to defeat them, give them a golden demon statuette to argue over. Aim for conflicts that define the characters, rather than ones that set them at each other’s throats.

Is there a detail that will become important later?

Foreshadow a future adventure into the ruins of a forgotten civilization by letting the adventurers discover a tapestry depicting the rise and fall of that society. This allows you to spread out the history lesson over several game sessions.

Can an item of treasure be used to subtly introduce an NPC?

Often you want the party to meet a supporting player in a casual context before they discover his or her true importance in the story. The NPC might later be revealed to be an evil conspirator, a prince unaware of his birthright, or a predatory monster in disguise. If so, introduce an item of treasure that character will want to buy, examine, or attempt to steal. For example, make your conspirator a rug merchant, and the item of treasure a rare and valuable carpet.

Would an item lead the characters to interact nonviolently with an enemy who wouldn’t ordinarily talk to them?

A precious memento or object of art might attract the attention of a cruel and powerful entity who wants it enough to negotiate a fair transaction under neutral circumstances. This allows the PCs to converse with the dragon, bandit king, or demon lord they’ll wind up fighting later, when they have enough experience to tackle the foe.

When none of these questions help you to customize a treasure item, find a random interesting detail. Turn to a random page of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, or another setting sourcebook you happen to be drawing on, and look for a detail that inspires a unique item of non-magical treasure. If you’re not using a setting book, any edition of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable makes a fine source of random mythological and fantastic inspiration.

For example, let’s say that your random page takes you to the section of the Campaign Setting detailing the Red Mantis Assassins. Using this as inspiration, you decide that the treasure includes a fabulously expensive brooch given to top members of the organization after performing an exemplary kill. In order to trade this in for cash, the party will either have to find a merchant who doesn’t fear the wrath of the Red Mantis, or seek out a high-ranking member of the group. One of the PCs might do something rash, like use the brooch to pass herself off as a member of the Red Mantis.

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